The War
The War began from the final days of Fort. The now infamous event lasted about half a year and has become one of the most intricate and significant moments in Wazoo's vast history. =Causes= The legendary war came to be because of two main reasons. The Great Tent Debate When the planning stages of JFF began, an interesting idea was quickly posed. Someone said that instead of huddling into Jamie O'Connell's basement to sleep, the attendees should instead slep outside in the forts. A handful of men agreed that it would be a great testament to the building of the forts to spend a full night in them. However, not everybody was happy with this idea. Soon, Cory Pray lashed out. He shot the idea down, posing that the men sleep in tents instead. Jamie and Bryan Grove took this as a huge insult, utterly dismissing the idea. However, different men started to rally behind Cory's idea. Soon a division arose, leading the two opposing sides to declare war on one another. Abuse Of Power While this debate was the lead cause of the war, still another factor existed. Many of the Fort workers became increasingly frusterated with their leaders' harsh ruling. Many claimed that the two were completely corrupt, using their power merely to gain fear and unconditional respect. Men would spend days being beaten by their rulers, usually without syaing much. However, by the time the debate began, people were absolutely sick of the corruption going on in front of them. To add fire to the debate, this issue arose, again coming as a large insult to the leaders. While the debate was the lid on the coffin, this was the hinge to it. =The Division= As a result of it all, the men were divided into two main sides (and one sub-side). Loyalists The Loyalists consisted of those who still obeyed their leaders' rule. Of course, Jamie and Bryan spearheaded this side, but they also consisted of many other members. Upholding their traditions, the loyalists had a no mercy plan. They wanted to see their adversaries destroyed so they would never betray them again. They planned on using absolutely ruthless methods to humiliate their opponents. =Rebels= The Rebels were the men who completely opposed O'Connell and Grove's rule. Leading this side was founded by Cory Pray. Soon after founding it, he came to Alex Sakach, who recognizing the chance to lead a group of devoted soldiers, gladly accepted the chance to take part in the armed uprising. Though the two were fighting against the ruthless actions of their former leaders, they too engaged in a no-holds bar plan. They often competed with the Loyalists, claiming their punishments were a lot worse. They refused to see the corruption continue any longer. The Rebel cause was a strong as it was appealing. Within a matter of days of forming, members streamed in. Many key players in the Rebel ranks joined early- namely Andrew Thomas, Jake Farrar, and Jake Spillane. All three brought very essential aspects to the Rebel ranks. Thomas, a Causeway resident experienced woodsman, and formerly high priest of fort, gave the force a guide into the depths of the woods. His membership was key, the Loyalists had superior knowledge of the territory and with the acquisition of Andrew, the Rebels could successfully chart the lay of the land and slightly even the playing field. Farrar, passionately dubbed "The Brute", brought with him a reputation as a crazed warrior with no respect for human life. A prime physical specimen mixing size, strength, speed and a killer instinct made him a direct and serious threat to the Loyalist army. Jake also was a keen outdoorsman, and would eventually become an Eagle Scout. Jake Spillane was a one man supply line. He was the main weaponsmith of the group, and upon joining pledged use of his supplies, namely protective gear, weapons, and ammunition. With him on the Rebellion's side, the tides of war shifted heavily to the Rebels side. Rebel Tactics The Rebel plan was simple: Crush the Loyalist Army in a series of decisive battles, thus forcing O'Connell and Grove to come to the table and negotiate with the Rebel Army, ultimately resulting in a gradual acclimation into a joint oversight of all future projects. Carrying out such a mission required vigorous planning, training, and gathering intelligence. Luckily for the Rebels, all the major players- namely Pray, Sakach, Thomas, Spillane and Farrar- were all committed to ensuring success on the battlefield. The initial planning was closer to home. The Rebels realized that the core of every army is their ability to defend what is theirs. At the Geneva Convention, the Loyalists agreed to letting the Rebel Army use the King's Fort to base operations from during the war. Although accepting the Fort, the Rebels saw that there were many fatal flaws with using that fort as a base. To begin, the forts were all facing the wrong way, with the openings to the structures facing the direction of the Loyalist camp, and the Wall facing towards the King's Fort itself. Also, the location of the fort made it susceptible to being surrounded. It had multiple paths converging on it, and lacked a strategic choke point. Seeing that making the King's Fort a primary base was a disaster waiting to happen, the army opted to make their camp be the already furnished basement of leader Cory Pray. The location seemed fitting since one of the basis' of the conflict was shelter. The new base was an ideal place. By placing the headquarters there, the rebel territory doubled, and gave them a stronghold to fall back to if necessary. If the Loyalists wanted to assault the base, they would first have to take the King's Fort, which would be used as a forward base of operations for Rebel activities in Loyalist grounds. Such an attack would require a majority of the Loyalist force, and would leave them bloodied. A head on assault would bring them face to face with a stone wall, that would leave the Loyalists in the road, an effective Killzone, with rebels behind cover free to take pot shots at the advancing enemies and have little to worry about in return fire. An assault from the right of the base would require the Loyalists to navigate through a dense forest of thorn bushes. Such as assault would run the risk of having their army caught between razor sharp thorns and the angry sting of Rebel bullets when the Rebels sensed an attack from there. So all in all, the Rebel placement gave them a solid base. With the defenses all set, the Rebels began drawing up their assault plans. With the King's Fort at their disposal, no real invasion of Loyalist land would be needed. They could base operations from the fort, reload and rest there, and if needed, abandon is quickly with no real loss to themselves. With the Rebel ranks thinned by the formation of the Troubadors and the short lived Moderate Rebels, the attack plan shifted from overwhelm with brute force to aggravate or bait. The Rebels knew that they had the superior supplies and could therefore afford to fire off more shots, and keep a firefight engaged for a longer time. They figured by that logic that they could maintain a firefight and force the Loyalists to withdraw to reload or regroup. The Rebels planned to go out in groups of two, engage a Loyalist position for as long as needed take that position, or fall back if they became overwhelmed and regroup with the rest of the army to end the loyalist threat. Such tactics would be implemented until the Loyalists were either pushed back to the Outpost for a final stand or a blockade, or the Loyalist Army was thinned to the point that the Rebel force could march into the Outpost and claim victory. The Geneva Convention revealed another one of the Rebels' many tactics: terrorism. The late night guerilla attack carried out by several members of the Rebels including Cory Pray, Jake Farrar, and Jake Spillane involved an automatic airsoft gun Spillane had snuck into the Campese household in his sleeping bag. This bold and dangerous move characterized the core aspects of all Rebel attacks: stealth, airsoft guns, surprise, and attacking for no good reason except for "the cause". Rebel Internment Camps As the war became more and evident and the conflicts escalated the need for a prison camp became apparent. Prisoners of war became a major part of the conflict, and there was no place to detain captives. The Loyalists, keeping true to their roots, were strong on torture and prisoner abuse. In retaliation to numerous threats made to the Rebel Forces, namely leader Cory Pray and Second in Command Alex Sakach, the Rebels began construction on a camp in Jake Spillane's woods. The Rebels, in line with their idea of Terrorism, named the camp "Aushwitz" after the famous Nazi deathcamp, since it was name that was recognizable and brought a distinct feeling of fear with its mention. The plan called for a pit many feet deep dug into Spillane's woods with a thick branch overhanging the pit. The prisoners would be hung over the pit by their ankles over the pit. In order to transport the prisoners to the camp, the Rebels recruited Lucien Filip, who was one of the first people to have a drivers license. Unlike many of the Loyalist plans, "Aushwitz" actually had construction started on it. But was never finished since is production was cut short from War talks fizzling out. =Troubadors= The Troubadors (or 'Troobs') were a a sub-faction of the Loyalists. It consisted primarily of Loyalists, Giovanni Colantonio, and Doug Linse, who did not believe that fighting was the proper way to resolve the situation. Instead, the three planned on walking through the battlefield playing music and promoting unity amongst the sects. They were also held under the protection of Loyalist Joe Coletta. Though they were Loyalists, the Troobs were not welcomed in. Instead, the Rebels and Loyalists made a secret pact to destroy them at the war's start. =Complications= After much deliberation, it was decided that the war would be fought out with Airsoft Rifles. While this seemed simple, soon debate arose about the proper equipment the men should be wearing. Some posed that it would be completely dangerous and irresponsible to shoot at people in the dark who were not wearing face masks. Thus, it was decided that evryone must wear a mask. However, not everyone had access to masks, making another dilema arise. In addition, many concerns began to arise about each team's method of punishment. Each side planned to capture its opponents and subject them to a harsh punishment. Loyalists began toying with the idea of strapping prisoners to a makeshift raft and sending them out in the middle of a lake. Also, they planned on using an abandoned house in the woods as a prison. On the other side, the Rebels considered constructing a large pit which they would hang prisoners upsidedown in. Also, the Rebels toyed with the idea of branding themselves as a pact. All of these problems were discussed at the Geneva Convention, bringing forth extreme discomfort. =The End Of War= Finally, at the Geneva Convention, a committe voted to end the war once and for all. This did not please everyone however. Many individuals had prepared for the event and were not willing to let go that easily. In it's final dying moments, the Rebels announced they would be changing their stance. They said that they would be starting an agricultural society instead of fighting. This news came as a shock to the loyalists, confusing them to no end. Just days after the announcement, talk of the battle completely died down, leaving discussion of war to a mere muffle. Although the war has become nothing more than a Wazoo Legend, it has never offically ended. Neither side has made any attempts to reach any sort of agreement over a treaty, or surrender. Every so often, talks of restarting the War come up, but no faction has taken any steps to actually re-instigate the conflict. All sides claim some sort of victory. The Troubadors claim victory since no shots were ever fired between sides, the Rebels claim victory because there have been no fort sessions since the conflict arose, therefore no more brutality from its leaders. And the Loyalists claim victory in the sense that they are still in power. Related Acts of Violence The war did not end without a few battles. After the war had been prevented, two battles arose. The first came during JFF. O'Connell had been lured over to Cory Pray's house during the event. When he got there, he was ambushed by the two men. The strike ended with Jamie beign hit in the leg with the Czar. Jamie returned to his home bleeding. He came to Alex Sakach and told him to get his airsoft rifle. The two men returned to Cory's, fully armed and launched a counter attack. Though small, the battle was considered by many to actually be the war itself. It was the closest anything had come to it. The second battle came a while after. Giovanni Colantonio was attending the O'Connell household when the two were invited over to Cory Pray's house. Upon entering, Cory pulled out his airsoft rifle and launched an attack on the two. The men quickly scurried home, getting both Jack O'Connell's airsoft handgun and paintball gun. They returned again to Cory's and quickly launched a counter ambush. In the struggle, Cory ran and disarmed Colantonio. Andrew Thomas ran to disarm whoever had Cory's airsoft gun and accidently snapped the barrell off (it was Jamie's fault). During the period of time that Wazoo was involved in CWL {Clan Warfare League), the clan Death Trout, labeled +DT+ launched a preemptive strike against unarmed members of Boobs and Wrenches, or BnW. The Summer of 2006 brought with it a very competitive time for Wazoo, namely CTF. But also brought with it one of the more awesome events in Wazoo history- the Assault on Blockus. Alex Sakach, Jake Spillane, Ken Donald and Andrew Thomas were sitting around at Alex's house after having an airsoft war, and decided it would be hilarious to go over to their friend’s house and assault the people playing Blockus peacefully in the yard. The plan called for the abduction of Giovanni Colantonio, which seemed like an easy task. The assault force rolled up in Ken's car, jumped out, grabbed G and attacked the players. The players fought back, stole a gun or two, and G escaped. The assault team drove back to Alex's defeated, but soon found themselves under attack. After many drive-bys, the two sides decided to have a full fledged firefight. It ended with many people getting shot, an epic fight between Jake Farrar and Jake Spillane, and marked one of the final firefights within the Wazoo Ranks. =Documentation= During the War, Alex Sakach wrote some memoirs to document the war, knowing that the war was going to be a legendary event in Wazoo history. Unfortunately, the file was lost in the shuffle during a computer change, if the file surfaces, it will be placed on here. In addition, Giovanni Colantonio began keeping a Troubador journal for similar reasons. The journal featured the troubador's ultimate plans for the war. Unfortunately, it is not known if the entries still exist or were lost in The Great OS Crash.